Chain Reaction: Book 1 of The Criss Cross Series
by justaddgigi
Summary: After a tragic and emotionally devastating mission, Aster Jane Potter decides to leave the Auror Corp and The Wizarding World and moves to Gotham City in hopes of making a new start: free from the paparazzi and the pressures of being the Wizarding World's savior. Unfortunately, Aster quickly encounters a cranky superhero, insane costume villains, and a haunted building.
1. Prologue

**Title:** Chain Reaction

 **Author's Name:** justaddgigi

 **Rating:** Mature

 **Warnings:** Rape threat, Queer Themes, Violence, Crossover, Transphobia,

 **Contains:** MTF Transgender Harry Potter (Aster Potter), Bamf Harry, Gender Dysphoria,

 **Summary:** After a tragic and emotionally devastating mission, Aster Jane Potter decides to leave the Auror Corp and The Wizarding World and moves to Gotham City in hopes of making a new start: free from the paparazzi and the pressures of being the Wizarding World's savior. Unfortunately, for Aster she quickly encounters a cranky superhero, insane costume villains, and a haunted building that wants to kill her.

 **Author's Note:** Yes, this is the reboot of the Criss Cross series I wrote under the Pseudonym of jazzymaymay. Now, as justaddgigi I'm once again for the third time I am rebooting it. I'm older and wiser, and I have a fantastic beta to help me. I actually have this outlined pretty well this time, so hopefully I want get writer's block this time around. I want to thank DarkLadyEris who beta'd my stuff fantastically and was just so enthusiastic about it. Your enthusiasm encouraged me to give this series another go.

I want to let you guys know that although I'm writing about from the perceptive of trans woman, I myself, is in fact a cis woman. I have researched, and talked to real trans women. However, I am human and could have easily made a mistake. If I wrote something incorrectly please let me know. I really wanted to write a bad ass trans woman (which is solely underrepresented in media). Thank you all so much for getting on this ride with me and I hope you enjoy this fic!

* * *

 **"Are you ready for this?"** asked Ron Weasley, as he flattened himself against the wall, wand at the ready. Aster Jane Potter silently nodded and raised her own wand. They slowly crept into the abandoned house.

The house was so dark, that Aster could barely see the vague outlines of broken furniture, trash, and various debris that littered the floor. They made their way through the room but there was no one there, Aster made a hand signal that told Ron that they were to check each of the rooms.

He nodded his head, his usual gregarious personality was uncharacteristically grim. Together, they checked each of the downstairs rooms, every little sound of they heard seemed to be amplified jangling their already rattled nerves.

They found nothing. Aster and Ron circled back to the main foyer. They exchanged bewildered looks. This was the address they were given by their informant but no one was there.

There was a loud crash from upstairs and Aster was suddenly running up the stairs, the heel of her boots thumping against the rickety staircase; Ron running behind her she could see his crimson Auror robes flapping behind him, a very real fear like ice over her spine as she followed the noise.

She stopped in front of a slut door and opened it. Aster couldn't move, at that very moment, the blood in her veins turned to ice as she took in the scene. The was so much blood, on the floors, on the ceiling, on every surface in the room. A hysterical part of her mind thought that it reminded of one of Teddy's finger painting experiments. Bile rising up in her throat, almost distantly Aster could hear Ron cursing up a storm.

At the centre of the horrific scene was Amycus Carrow holding a boy by his hair, wide tears staining brown eyes that seemed to hammer into her, pleading and begging for her to help him. His neck was leaking blood from the wide cut that she instantly knew was from a cutting curse.

"Drop the boy, Carrow!" She demanded, gripping her wand in a white-knuckled grip.

"Savior Potter," He snarled, "Always seeming to interrupt my plans."

"Give me the boy," Ron snarled, "And no one would get hurt."

"Avada Kedavra!"

Aster grabbed Ron, and pushed them both on the floor, barely just missing the poison green beam of the deadly spell, she turned and gasped as the boy's body fell onto with a sickening thud. His eyes open and lifeless.

"Always have to play the hero," Carrow taunted and pointed his wand right at her head

"Avada Kedavra!"


	2. Chapter 1

**Aster woke up with a jolt, a scream on her lips** as those dreaded words cycled over and over in her head. For a long moment, she could still smell the sharp smell of copper blood all around her. Aster could still see the dead eyes of the child she failed to save.

Trembling, Aster fumbled out of bed, needing to distance herself from her horrific nightmare. She chuckled bitterly to herself as she wiped away her tears. 'If only it had been a simple nightmare.' Aster thought as she walked to the window of her hotel room and pulled back the curtains to see the pink, orange hues of the sunset shine on the unfamiliar skyscrapers that made up the skyline of her new home. It was a mix of glass and chrome modern behemoths, art deco buildings that were beautiful with their geometric designs, sharp lines and arcs, interlaced among the modern and art deco style building was several Gothic style brooding and majestic. Standing above them all, in the centre, she could even spot the top of Wayne Tower even from her shitty view of her fifth-floor hotel window.

She started to feel a calm rush over her as she looked at Gotham City, the city reminding her that horrific time in her life was far behind her now and she was on the verge of starting a new chapter in her life. Aster closed her eyes and took in a shaky breath as she tried her best to push in the awful time in her life in a box in her mind where she put all of her most unpleasant memories such as the War, and growing up with the Dursleys.

Aster shook her head and then walked away. She stretched, and yawned, and rubbed her tired eyes and decided that a cuppa was diffidently in order. Aster really hadn't been sleeping well, especially with the stress of moving across the ocean to a new country. Aster rolled her eyes as she thought about all the arguments she got into with especially with Molly and Hermione. They really didn't approve of any of her decisions lately.

Aster pushed those thoughts aside, as she plugged in her portable kettle. Aster could have easily conjured the tea, but honestly conjured tasted like shite. After that, Aster turned around to flick the telly on.

The news was on, and sitting in front of a new deck was a voluptuous blonde woman dressed in a sharp skirt suit that looked like she should be on the cover of a Fashion magazine instead of a news desk appeared on the screen. Next to her was a man who was slightly older with dark brown hair, broad and muscular with a built that reminded her beater's build in Quidditch.

"This is wake up Gotham! My name is Vicki Vale."

"And I'm Randall McCullough."

The camera panned back to Vicki, beside her was a video playing. Aster leaned forward to incredulously take in a man dress up in as a black costume fighting a man with neon green hair in clown makeup and a rictus type of smile. To top off the ludicrously of this scene was the clown was dressed in a hideous bright purple suit.

"The top news today is that last night our very own Caitlin Rollins witnessed Gotham's very own caped crusader take down Harlequin, sidekick, and girlfriend of the most dangerous criminal known as the Joker."

The video cut to a woman, true to her name was dressed in a black and red corset and boots kicking and screaming as two burly Coppers took her away.

"Unfortunately, The Joker is still at large." Vicki finished.

The camera panned to Randall, "Commissioner Gordon has stated that he has no comment. However, we got a statement from Mayor Sharpie's office this morning condemning Batman as an unhinged vigilante who is the cause of all the chaos in the city."

Aster shook her hand, "A man dressed as a Bat fighting crime." She stood up and walked over to pour her morning cuppa. "Merlin, and I thought the Wizarding World was barmy!"

Aster quickly drowned her tea, grabbed her toiletries and clothes before heading towards the shower. Gotham's weirdness aside, she had a long day ahead of her. It had been a few days since her arrival in Gotham and even though she wasn't staying at low rent motel and her hotel room at the Hampton Inn was nice but bland; she was more than ready for a place that was hers.

Aster winced as she thought about how she was almost caught unshrinking her suitcase last night by the main. Rolling her eyes at her own stupidity, Aster started to wash her long dark red hair. It was so different than her black locks but it was something different and it reminded her mother's hair. Although, not too much with dark wine colour.

With a sigh, her thoughts moved to what she do today. Aster would diffidently have to drop by the bank and set up an appointment with Dr. Thompson. She would have to write Ron and Hermione. Hermione was probably driving herself ragged with worry. She wished that her pet raven and snake Corvus and Eirian weren't still in mandatory quarantine for all foreign animals. Customs reassured her that she would probably get him back by the end of the month. So she would have to send it by muggle mail.

She would also send some souvenirs for Teddy and Andromeda and Arthur Weasley who delighted in all types of muggle gadgets. She felt a pang of homesickness as thought about Teddy and The Weasleys and her friends back home. Aster couldn't deny that she missed them all.

With a sigh, Aster finally grabbed a towel and wrapped around herself. She pulled out her medicine bag and took out a needle and the bottle of medication. It was three-quarters full and she mentally calculated how much she had left. Aster had an enough her Hormone Replacement medicine to last for another month at best. Yes, it was diffidently best to contact Dr. Thompson today. Shaking her head, Aster injected the HRT into her thigh, not even wincing at the pinch the sharp needle entered her body.

It had been a year and a half since Aster officially started her transition and the pain had long become routine for her. Shaking her head, she put her medication away and headed back into the bedroom and quickly got dressed. Aster grabbed her things and with one last look at her temporary home walked out of her room and onto the streets of Gotham with a clear agenda in her head.

* * *

"Isn't this perfect?" Her Realtor, Hollie Pickett asked with excitement.

"Great," Aster answered dully, just barely able to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. She rubbed her head in what was certainly a futile effort to stop the burgeoning headache Aster felt coming on. The only successful thing she managed to accomplish was getting an appointment with Dr. Thompson for next week. However, everything else went to shit.

Gringotts still hadn't transferred the money to Gotham National Bank, so Aster really only had the money she had brought with her. And after five hours traveling from house to house, the Realtor took to her this pretty, yet bland white two story home that reminded her eerily too much of her childhood home on Privet Drive.

"This house has three bedrooms, two baths, a huge backyard, and a sun room." Hollie gushed excitedly her blond curls almost practically bouncing around her head.

Aster turns her glance traveling to each perfect cookie cutter style house with their pristine lawns and felt little nauseous. Aster pasted on a grin. "I'm sorry, Hollie, but this." She gestured to the house. "Is really not my style."

Hollie excited grin was wiped away to be replaced with a disappointed frown. "But this is the best neighbourhood Gotham."

"Technically, this is in the outskirts of Gotham." Aster pointed out shaking her head, "And I really, really don't do suburbs."

Her shoulders slumped and looked down at her tablet. She flipped through a few things. on her ipad. Hollie sighed, "Unfortunately, this is the last house that met your specifications. You wanted a free standing house, but most free standing houses in Gotham is outside of your budget."

Aster winced, as she thought about going out of the budget. Aster had money, more money than she logically knew what to do with, to be honest. Honestly, Aster wouldn't have to work a day in her life if she didn't want to. However, Aster had grown up poor, grew up working as an indentured servant, and opulence made her entirely too uncomfortable. That type of wealth made her instantly think about the Malfoys and the rest of the purebloods back home. Aster would like to live modestly and relatively under the radar. Aster looked back at the house again and wearily shook her head. She didn't want to rent a flat and certainly didn't live in suburban hell.

She fidgeted and ran her hand through her hair. "Let me think about it okay?"

They both got back into the car and travelled during relative silence back into the city and to her office. Aster looked out the window onto the city. It wasn't necessarily pretty as it was this morning. At this level, the buildings were little less shiny and majestic than what she had seen this morning. The city was crowded, cars, trucks, and buses passing by, the sidewalks was full of people, an amalgamation of different accents and voice pitches could be heard as their car passed by. They passed a construction crew, one of the construction workers jack hammering loudly away at a city street. The deeper they got into the closer, the more her surroundings seem to chase away the spectre of her miserable childhood.

After a while, they finally pulled up to The Realtor's office. As they got out of the car, Hollie handed her her card, and Aster told her that she would call when she made her decision.

With a wave, Aster and Hollie parted ways. She turned towards the street and thought about taking the tube back to her hotel, but it was such a nice day and it really wasn't that far from her hotel. Besides, Aster needed time to think and her best thinking was done when she was on the move. Aster started to walk down the street, merging into the crowd, lost in her wayward thoughts.

* * *

"Where the bloody hell am I?" Aster looked up from the GPS on her phone. This street was diffidently unfamiliar and nowhere near her hotel. she groaned, "Only I can get lost with GPS." She slapped her forehead. Aster sat down at a nearby bus stop and tried to think of a way out of her predicament.

Aster was on Thain Street, and the Hampton Inn was at least a mile in the other direction. Aster groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. This was just perfect. The looked around the street, The place looked to have been once a hub of industry. Squat warehouses, mixed in tall buildings that mostly like were productive factories once upon a time but instead now laid abandoned and derelict. Paint peeling, windows boarded up, graffiti sprayed on the walls. It was a sad depressing sight to see. The street was oddly quiet than the rest of Gotham, only homeless people and some people that she pretty pegged as drug dealers milled around the buildings.

Aster wasn't a coward by the stretch of the imagination but it was getting late and diffidently didn't want to be here after dark.

"Yes, it was best to call a taxi." Aster determined, "No need to attract trouble."

Aster started to look up a taxi service on her phone, and but she shot up straight as if she was being shocked by electricity as felt something mentally strike at her legilimency shields so hard that Aster almost dropped her phone at the force of it.

"Bloody hell," Aster cursed, cradling her aching head with her free hand. Finally, the pain faded enough that she felt that she could stand without her knees buckling underneath her. Aster stood shakily to her feet, her gaze darting around her for the source of the attack. Most Legilimens had to not only be looking at her but be nearby to the perform the spell. They were only three people she ever knew who were exceptions to the rules, and all three of them were dead.

Yet, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, and no one on the street really paid her any attention. Aster rubbed her head, feeling more than a bit creeped out. Gotham was supposed to be a magical null. For some unknown reason, Gotham had no Wizarding presence whatsoever, and the closest magical district was in New York City.

A part of Aster was curious and wanted to seek out who tried to penetrate her mental shields, and if this had been ten years ago and still that impetuous noisy child she had been back at Hogwarts she would have. Aster just shook her head and looked at her phone, when suddenly someone bumped into her.

"Hey!"

Then she noticed that a man was running with her bloody purse.

Pissed off beyond belief, Aster ran after the man, she really didn't have a choice there were more than a few magical items she had stashed in there and they didn't really need to be in the hands of a muggle.

Aster ran, her inherent athleticism and her long practice of running after criminals after the years she spent in the Auror corps. The man looked back and smirked at her as he speeded up and continued sprinting down the street, shoving the few people out the way.

"Excuse me!" She said absently as she picked up her speed, her green eyes flashing as she raced and she narrowed her eyes. "Oh, no you bloody don't."

Aster ran faster, her heart beating a rapid beat inside of her chest, blood pounding in her ears, there were closed to the street, and she willed her long legs to run even faster. Then she was suddenly only a hundred feet, fifty feet, then she was close enough to finally tackled him to the ground. The man struggled underneath her, and although she was physically weaker than she once was she was still able to subdue him, pinning his arms to the ground.

"Get off of me, you crazy bitch!" He yelled as he struggled against Aster.

"Gladly lad, once you give me my handbag back," Aster smirked in triumph. As she took off one of her hands to grab her purse, and in one smooth graceful move she was standing up again. She turned to see that this kerfuffle hadn't gathered any attention. Everyone just kept their head down and minded their own business.

She was suddenly shoved hard into the nearby building. Aster groaned as the man angrily loomed over her pressing her hand into the wall, his arm and body caging her there. He took something out of his pocket, and with an audible flick, she saw that it was a switchblade.

"I'm going to make you pay for that you cunt." He snarled, his face inches away from her, his breath stinking of whiskey.

"Look, this has just gotten way out of hand." Aster put her hands up, as she tried to move away from the wall, but the wasn't having it and pressed himself harder against her. A wave of panic hit her because the man might find a cock between her legs instead of a pussy. It went without saying that it would escalate the entire situation. " I'm sorry, let's just not make the situation worse. I'll give you my money and we can go our separate ways."

The man leered at her looking her up and down, "Oh, it's going to take more than that to make it up to me."

Frustration and panic rising inside of her made her quick as a snake and she struck out grabbing the man's forehand, she shoved the knife away from her and twisted his arm until she had bent down, the knife still away from her. With her free hand, she elbowed the guy in the head. She pivoted towards the side and kicked him hard in the solar plexus while simultaneously jerked the knife away. He fell to the floor, and Aster hurried away.

It felt a bit cowardly to run from the situation, but Aster had almost just been robbed, and almost raped and she was in a new city on her own. Aster may have magic on her side, and Gotham a magically null. However, there were other cities with close to Gotham who didn't have that problem and she did not want to get on the radar by magically obliviating a whole street of people.

So she ran, but then as she turned the corner she staggered at another magical attack. Aster put her hand on a nearby building and she felt a flash of images of a blazing fire, of people, screaming, and a feeling hatred so strong that it took her aback.

She snatched her hand away and stumbled back to look up at four story building. It looks like had been a factory at one time, like the other buildings on the street. There was a sign hanging next to it, filthy and barely hanging on by a nail that said "Nutter's Factory."

"What the actual fuck?" Because there is no way that a building that had been blocks away could have the ability to try to penetrate her shields so much. Aster just ogled up at the building, and couldn't quite shake the feeling of dread.


	3. Chapter 2

**Aster stumbled back, her gaze fixed on the buildin** g. 'This was completely mental. Over the years, by necessity, Aster had become so proficient in the art of Occlumency that she now doubted that Snape and Dumbledore could have broken past her formidable mental shields. Yet a building had almost managed to pierce them?

No, a simple structure couldn't do that. Hogwarts, as much as the place had felt like it had a mind of its own sometimes, her old school never had that ability. Couldn't it be this property in particular? Aster shook her head, not that was crazy. It had to be a person inside the building. Yet, that didn't make any sense either. Hermione herself had originally told Aster that Gotham City was magically null; other than her, there was no witch and wizard who would dare come within a hundred miles of this place.

Feeling shaken and not a little bit creeped out. Aster wasn't at all ashamed to admit that she turn and run. She darted down the street, wanting to put as much distance between her and the building as possible. Aster gave a sigh of relief when the building was no longer in sight. 'Now, to get out of this bloody neighbourhood' she thought.

Aster looked around for nearby alley and immediately spotted one not too far away. She quickly ran down the street and into the alleyway. She gazed furtively around, praying that nothing else was lying in wait to ambush her. Seeing that she was alone, Aster took out her wand and apparated with a loud crack.

Aster reappeared in her hotel room, and winced as her neighbour banged against the wall., "Sorry!"

The banging stopped and Aster slumped against the door. This had been one hell of a day. Leave it to Aster to find trouble even she wasn't even looking for it. The young woman dropped her bag on the floor by the door before she quickly got out of her coat, shirt, jeans, and boots.

Aster sighed in relief and wiggled her toes as her feet were finally free from her boots. Her boots were diffidently not made for all the running she did today. Aster sighed and went to the bathroom. She stepped into the shower and turned on the hot water. She longed for her old claw foot bathtub instead of the tiny booth she was currently in. If there were a time that she really could use a long soak in a tub it would be today.

The events of today ran over and over in her head the building… rather the person in the building had almost punctured her shields. On top of all that, Aster had come this close to being raped. Aster shuddered and scrubbed a little harder at the places the mugger had touched her. She couldn't help but relive the encounter. The terror of what happened surged through her and she closed her eyes; shakingly braced her hands against the shower wall. She had to get herself together, she didn't have time for this!

Why was this situation affecting her like this? Aster had spent the majority of her life running into one dangerous situation after another. As both a veteran of the second war against Voldemort and then later as a part of the Aurors she was had seen terrible things. Aster had personally confronted the worst of the worst of what the Wizarding World had to offer. And yet, this had shaken her more than anything else she was ever experienced. The only that had bothered her this badly was...

Aster whimpered, her body began to shake even more as her mind instantly flashed back to Amycus's smug grin as he slit that boy's throat. She snapped her eyes closed and slapped the wall hard. 'Enough!' she shouted to herself, a short sobbing escaping. She slid down to the floor of the shower stall and tried her damnedest to shove those memories back into her mental box.

All of this happened a long time ago, and what happened earlier had been an aberration. The whole point of moving to Gotham was to get a new start. The past was the past. Aster was determined to not jeopardize her new start by lingering on old memories.

* * *

Aster sat on the floor of the shower until it went cold. It took an effort to stand up and step out of the shower before wrapping a towel around her body. The witch headed into the main room and padded over to her luggage before she pulled out her red and gold flannel pajamas.

Aster even managed to crack a tiny smile at the sight of them. They were garish and ugly as sin, but she loved them. The pajamas had been a going away present from Ron. Hermione had disapproved of them, but it was a little piece of home in a completely unfamiliar place. Aster hurriedly pulled on her pajamas and got into bed. She thought about ordering something to eat, but she immediately felt bile rise up in her throat.

"I guess eating is out of the question, " she grumbled to herself as she climbed into the bed. Hoping to get her mind off of things, Aster grabbed the remote from the bedside table and turned on the telly. On the screen, there was a picture of a man short squat man with a receding hairline. He looked to be in an early to mid 40's, dark brown eyes framed by round glasses like he used to wear and a long pointed nose.

"Delmar Whitfield: wealthy philanthropist and CEO of multi-millionaire Whitfield Financial Group have been declared missing this morning. The police haven't released any new information, but his family has announced that they are putting up a reward for $50,000 for any information that will lead to the recovery of ."

Aster quickly changed the channel with a click of a button. She had enough negatively for the day thank you very much. Aster flicked through the channels trying to find something to watch when she finally stopped when she that a channel was playing her favourite movie, 'Sabrina'. It was the original one, and not that god awful reboot with Harrison Ford.

As Aster watched the movie, she was even surprised to find herself laughing as Linus Larabee pushed his brother David down onto a chair; consequently making him sit on the two champagne glasses hidden in his pockets. Eventually, Aster yawned and settled more into deeply into her pillow. Her eyes slid closed and she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Aster gasped, her eyes snapping open as she felt a heavy pressure against her throat; squeezing all the air out of her like a vice. There was no one there, just empty air, but Aster tried to hit and kick even as she struggled, trying to push kicking and flailing her legs but there was nowhere there. She was fighting against empty air.

Abruptly, there was a new feeling as if something was...leaking her magic from her. Her heart pounding in her chest, her eyes going wide with fear and panic, Aster tried to stop it with that same stubborn will that got her through the War, that made her face Dark Wizard after Dark Wizard but it was useless.

Aster blinked, as she suddenly saw a vision of a large group of people in old fashion clothing screaming and banging against a locked door as blazing inferno engulfed the entire room. Terrified faces yanking at the door handle but the door wouldn't move. Aster watched as they were eventually burned alive.

Aster slumped against her pillows, gulping for air as she was a fish out of the water. She turned to see a familiar large black bird attack the empty air, and then there was a roar and the bird was flying through the air to slam hard against the nearby wall.

"Corvus!" Aster tried to scream, but her throat hurt too much to get the rest of the words out. Aster reached for wand on her nightstand, she reached for it, her hand slapping against the nightstand until thankfully her wand rolled into her hand.

Aster turned, her mouth dropping in astonishment as she saw the silver spotted the body of her snake Eirian coiling tightly around what could only be her invisible attacker but she too was too thrown against the same wall. A surge of protective anger swell up and she aimed a non-verbal stunning spell. There was audible roar and then nothing.

'What in Merlin's name just happened here'. Aster thought as she stared at the space the monster was in.

"You need to sleep." hissed, Eirian in Parseltongue.

Aster stroke her cool smooth body that was coiled around her neck and sighed. She shivered, and with unsteady hands picked up her cup of tea. Aster was so thankful for the presence of her two animal companions. They were supposed to be in quarantine and Merlin knows what the CDC was going to say when they found out that her friends had escaped. Aster rolled her eyes, was silently thankful that Hermione had finally persuaded her to put a muggleborn Solicitor who was both licensed in the Muggle and Wizarding World on retainer. He was definitely about to earn his exorbitant fees.

Corvus cawed, in what Aster took as his approval of what Eirian suggestion. Aster sometimes had to wonder at the bond of her two familiars. At times it seemed that they understood each other as clearly as Aster understood Eirian parseltongue.

Aster shook her head and groaned as she turned to throw a weary look at her bed.

"I...I can't," she protested and looked away and down at her cup.

Quite frankly, Aster was completely knackered. This had been a horrid day and now even her own hotel room wasn't safe now. If she had been in her own home this wouldn't have happened. Aster had learned a thing or two about Wards from her adoptive brother Bill Weasley who was a curse breaker for Gringotts.

Corvus nipped her hard on the finger with his beak. She rolled her eyes and petted his soft feathers. "I'm sorry, am I not paying enough attention to you, your majesty?

The Raven ruffled his feathers indignantly, making him look larger than his already not inconsiderable size.

"Sorry," Aster rolled her eyes. 'I'm not going to bed, though.'

Aster just shook her head and took another sip of her tea and the familiar taste of Twinings Grey tea. Hopefully, the caffeine would kick in soon. Honestly, Aster would need all the energy she could get, Aster still felt unsettled and wished she brought along some potions. A pepper up potion would have been appreciated, but with her, all her preparations she had forgotten to take any potions with her.

With a tired sigh, Aster finally stood up and headed for her luggage and pulled out her laptop and sat back down at the small desk in the corner.

"What are you doing?" hissed Eirian, throwing the laptop a curious look.

"Research," Aster, who quickly became distracted, replied.

To her great relief, her laptop actually booted up seemingly without any problems. Aster picked up her mobile and checked her last GPS coordinates. She had set her phone to track her locations the moment Aster arrived in the city as a way to learn her way around Gotham. She had a hunch about what was behind the attack, and it sounded completely barmy to her even in her own mind, but she had to try.

Aster walked back to her laptop and inputted the coordinates and as the property from earlier appeared on her screen. There had been something inside the building that attacked her Occlumency shields earlier today. Then, suddenly there was an entity, a ghost attacking her in her sleep? It was quite possible that two incidents weren't connected, but her gut told her otherwise.

Aster started to do look further into the building's history, looking for anything that might confirm or disapprove her suspicions. She decided to start her search looking through the public records. Aster discovers that the building had originally been a peanut factory owned by a one Hendrick Nutter in 1918.

The factory closed down in 1921 after a huge fire broke out in the factory, soon after the place was renovated and was turned into a clothing factory, but that closed during the depression. And ever since the ownership has been bouncing from owner to owner. The place had most recently had been a trade school, but that didn't last long. Due to the 2008 recession, the trade school shut down and it has been sitting abandoned ever since.

So there had been a fire there? Aster frowned, her fingers tapping idly at the keys of her laptop as she thought about the possibility that this was the same fire that had been in her vision. There was a rustle of feathers, and Aster smiled as she turned to see Corvus preening his feathers. She shook her head and turned back to the laptop and clicked a link that went to an article about the fire.

It seemed that Hendrick Nutter had lived up to his name. He had been a paranoid old codger and accused the workers of stealing from him. So he locked his workers into the factory. One day, a fire broke out and 80 people, some including women and children died. Hendrick Nutter had been charged with violating the recently passed child labour and was fined very little in the end for the people he practically murdered.

Aster sadly shook her head and took another sip of her tea. It was just all too tragic really, and Aster couldn't help but feel especially for the children had their childhood stripped away and should in no way been there that day. Aster thoughts went back to her vision and watching those people banging desperately against the door, trapped as the building was engulfed in the flames.

Aster was now reasonably certain that about the thing that had attacked her, her vision, and the building from earlier today was connected. She would have to make a decision, Aser could pack up Eirian and Corvus and get as far away from this city as she possibly could or she could stay and fight.

The witch stared at the building and she knew her choice. She has never run away from a fight, and Aster wasn't going to start now.


End file.
